Post on 20-Jun-2020
PAKISTAN WOMEN IN
ENGINEERING NEWSLETTER
Summer Volume 2012
Exclusive interview with Sadia
Kazmi, Head of Industry Automa-
tion, Siemens Pakistan.
Lahore Section Establishes
WIE Affinity Group
INDEX PAKISTAN WIE NEWSLETTER—SUMMER VOLUME
4 Technical Articles
Students of SEECS Developed Random Tree Star Algorithm
Female Engineers taking the lead in innovation and research—MCS NUST
Pakistan WIE Forum Interviews Sadia Kazmi, Head of Automation, Siemens 6 8 Women's Day Celebrations in NEDUET & NFC-IEFR
10 UIT Organizes the first ever all Pakistan Women Entrepreneurship Conference
17 IEEE and WIE membership drives in PNEC, CIIT and NEDUET Student Branch
12 Read about Scrap to Gadget held at PNEC & Brainiac by IEEE & WIE UET
14 CV Writing workshop at Bahria University Islamabad & Pakistan Mission to Pro-
gress project activities by WIE UIT
Rapidly Exploring Random Tree Star (RRT*) - Smart
Motion planning is a field of Artificial Intelligence in which a mobile robot autono-
mously reaches its destination by finding the most optimum path avoiding obsta-
cles. In 2010, and algorithm known as RRT* algorithm was developed by two re-
searcher from MIT; Sertec Karaman and Emmillio Farazoli for smooth motion of
the machine. This has been a very popular motion planning algorithm since then
because of its advantages over other algorithms.
Until recently when a paper of two undergraduate students from NUST School of
Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, Jauwairia Nasir and Fahad Islam
got accepted at IEEE RAS sponsored International Conference on Mechatronics
and Automation 2012, China. In this paper, they presented a novel motion plan-
ning algorithm “RRT*-Smart” based on a latest algorithm RRT*. They developed
this algorithm during their Final Year Project titled "Motion Planning and Naviga-
tion of Mobile Robots". Optimizing such an algorithm and reaching at far better
results in terms of time and cost is a big achievement. The implementation of the
algorithm is in C++ language with graphical and animation results on OpenGL and
the simulation results on dedicated robotic navigation software known as Player-
Stage. This all has been done on an integrated platform Eclipse and using
OpenCV libraries as well. To practically demonstrate their Motion
Planning results and to give proof of concept, they also tested them on
Pioneer 3-AT Mobile Robot which is a skid steer four wheel robotic
platform used for latest cutting edge robotic research.
Abstract of the Paper
“Rapidly Exploring Random Tree
(RRT) is one of the quickest and the
most efficient obstacle free path find-
ing algorithm. However, it cannot
guarantee finding the most optimal
path. A recently proposed extension
of RRT, known as Rapidly Exploring
Random Tree Star (RRT*), claims to
achieve convergence towards the
optimal solution but has been proven
to take an infinite time to do so and
with a slow convergence rate. To
overcome these limitations, we pro-
pose an extension of RRT*, called
RRT*-Smart, which aims to acceler-
ate its rate of convergence and to
reach an optimum or near optimum
solution at a much faster rate and at
a reduced execution time. Our novel
algorithm inculcates two new tech-
niques in RRT*: these are path opti-
mization and intelligent sampling.
Simulation results presented in vari-
ous obstacle cluttered environments
confirm the efficiency of RRT*-Smart.
Jauwairia Nasir and Fahad Islam with their Robot
Environment’s Constants
The Figure shows the optimized path planned by RRT*-Smart
in different obstacle environments. The red box is the goal re-
gion; the solid red color represents the obstacles while the
black line represents the path found from the start region. The
number of iteration at which the optimized cost is achieved is
mentioned in the captions.
Quad Rotor Helicopter
Amna Ziauddin along with Saad ur Rehman Faiz, Capt. Rashid Mansur and Capt. Umar Khalid build Aba-beel UAV; a quad rotor helicopter, which is equipped with mine detec-tion and video transmission capa-bilities, to allow for remote detection and tagging/detonation of metal mines. This project was designed to provide a better, safer and more efficient method of clearing land mines. In addition, the project can help in humanitarian efforts in wake of natural disaster and to help law enforcement agencies (LEA). The project also finds application in sur-veying and security applications.
Digital Baseband
Processing Module
NC Bakhtawar Hasan, NC Nabila Shahid and NC Rabeea Suhail have indigenously performed the hardware designing of a Digital Baseband Processing Module in order to reduce foreign reliance for such expensive equipment, and have developed it by map-ping it onto Virtex 5 FPGA. The implementation of the Wide Band Networking Waveform for SDR has been carried out using the OFDM model according to IEEE 802.11a standard. The Baseband Processing Module’s perform-ance has been tested and results have been analyzed by success-fully transmitting live audio sig-
nal.
Female Engineers taking the Lead
I recently happened to revive an episode of the famous TV Sitcom “Friends” where two of the characters hired a male nanny for their child. Apparently it seemed a ta-boo (a man being a nanny; a big deal) and every male character responded with the same sentence: “Woah! It’s like a woman wants to be a…” But the sentence was never completed because there isn’t any field where women have failed to prove their skills and abilities. It is, however, still considered that women are lagging behind in the field of mathematics and engineering. Although their enrollment in Engineering Colleges has been more than ever, they are still considered a minority. But women are contributing towards science and technology as much as their counters. They are competent enough to propose and execute tough and challenging projects even more eagerly. As a matter of fact, in Military College of Signals - NUST, Rawalpindi the projects of female students have not only outnumbered the projects by male stu-dents but also overshadowed them.
CRRIT stands for crime reporting, response and investigation tools. Maham Shabbir developed a Crime reporting, response generation and investigation system via web, android and Symbian cell phones using ASP.net, Java and Microsoft SQL server 2008. It provides an easy way to report the crimes. Crime report can be sent by all mobile users using GSM functionality. Also these users include Web, Smartphone users and Symbian cell phone users. It reports the suspicious activity speedily and generates a solid response within less time.
Summaya & Shajiah developed a Mobile VoIP (voice over internet) with the purpose to design and develop a software system for Android mobile phone that allows users to call other users over the internet. This project provides a sip phone for android mobile that provides user the facility of calling other users via internet. Contact list is provided so user can easily call other mobile users. It also provides the functionality of inbox and sending messages to other users and adding contacts in the list.
Alongside with the brilliant achievements in the software section, women are behind no one while contributing for the hardware projects. Amal Atique, Javeriah Khalid, Rabya Mahmood and Ahmed build a “Centralized Environmental Network Monitoring and Reporting System” based monitoring and reporting system for Telecom opera-tors which they are calling CENMaRS. CENMaRS monitors the environmental changes in an unmanned site for centralized management through comprehensive database & reporting system. Sensors at remote sites/locations are connected to the controller which sends the raw data to the server over the Intranet. The comprehen-sive database is maintained at the server end. The processed and filtered data is displayed using a Graphical User Interface GUI.
Gone are those days when women were considered a feebler gender. They are con-tributing equally for the development and betterment of the world giving a tough time to anyone who is trying to finish the sentence. And to give in my contribution, I would say: “It’s like a woman wants to sit at home & do nothing ;)”
Compiled by Arifa Husnain
Amal Atique, Javeriah Khalid, Rabya Mahmood and Ahmed of MCS NUST
Ms Sadia Mansoor Kazmi works as the Manager Sales and Automation at Siemens Pakistan. Though Auto-mation being her core field, she is the Head of Proposals handling both local and international project sales as well as the Quality Manager for the Industry Automation Division of Siemens. She joined Siemens as a
student, 20 years ago.
Representative s of Pakistan WIE Forum, Ms Rabia Khalid along with Ms Rehma Javed, Secretary IEEE PNEC visited Siemens Karachi to interview Ms. Sadia Kazmi. During this one hour meeting they asked her a few ques-tions regarding her work, how she manages and what did it take her to reach up to this level. A few questions that were asked are mentioned here.
The most challenging aspect of my position right now is to be well versed in all aspects of proposal making other than technical for example the financial and legal terminology being used in Siemens Processes for proposal making. The Technical part seems to be the easy part for me. Closing a deal over the email/telephone is also quite a challenging activity as I have very limited travel options. When I was in engineering/execution there the most challenging part was commissioning on site. Not because of the technical aspect but because of the facili-ties available to women on remote project sites.
You should know where your priorities lie and make your choices accordingly. Initially career was my priority and I gave my full sometimes even 24/7 to work. Now my family is my priority.
Respect.
IN FOCUS
What is the most challenging aspect of your position and why?
What is the key to balance your personal and professional life?
What’s the most important thing you expect from colleagues and staff?
Over the years I have refused many careers opportunities with increased financial benefits because it meant taking out more of my time and stretching my limits and I wouldn’t be able to justify my responsibilities to my family and work together. I am lucky to work in a com-pany that has flexible timing and a facility to work from home, which I avail and make the best of my time. Other than that the most important aspect is the cooperation of my family
with me which helps me do the balancing well.
When I joined Siemens, there was an extremely knowledgeable Lady, Ms. Roshnak. She was very meticulous, punctual and straightforward. She was so sound technically that most of the colleagues even senior one would take her word as the last. She was known for her technical knowledge.
Yes, definitely. You meet all sorts of people throughout your career. I have done a lot of hard work to get to this position. And yet at times, I find that peo-ple do not like to recognize your worth. When it comes to dividing work within a group, you (being a woman) are not given work or the work given to you is not worth anything. Also instead of being given technical work, you assigned with presen-tations or documentation.
Also in the professional field sometimes customers would not want to talk to a fe-male about the technicalities of a project, Some Industrial plants do not allow fe-males to visit.
Another bias worth mentioning is that most people think that as it is not the duty of the woman to support the family, there-fore she does not need to be paid the same as a male counterpart.
Much better. You see the main issue for a
female is having kids; it is not easy to leave them at home. But nowadays facilities do exist that were not avail-able way back then like daycares, pampers, KN’s etc.
Another factor that is changing is acceptance. Mental level of people has improved as people are sending their own daughters to engineering universities. I find that customers now are more willing to discuss a project with a woman and are not as reluctant as before.
I’ll still be working. Reason I have struggled until today is that I enjoy my work, even though it got extremely grinding when my children were young. I see myself as working in the next few years. If I am not at Siemens at that time, I might pursue teaching. Contrary to many people I am fond of teaching and look forward to it as a ca-reer choice.
Has anyone inspired you so far? Why & How?
IN FOCUS
Have you ever experienced any stigmas or biases against you because of being a working woman?
In this male dominated society, how do you see the future of working women?
Where do you see yourself after four years?
Rabia Khalid, Chairperson Pakistan WIE Forum & Rehma Javed, Secretary
IEEE PNEC with Ms Sadia Kazmi at Siemens Karachi.
NED-UET WIE TEAM PROMOTES
WOMEN LIVE ON TV
We live in the part of the world where women suffer extreme oppression by the superior sex. To support women empower-
ment and to uplift the mission IEEE-WIE, that is to encourage women to pursue engineering careers and to opt into techni-
cal and scientific education, the student body of WIE-NED UET arranged for a field trip to Pakistan Television Cooperation
on 7th March, 2012. The visit was organized so as to meet the commemoration and celebrations of Women’s Day. The aim
of this small scale visit to television broadcasting cooperation was
to promote the presence of women in technical fields and to en-
courage the young girls studying in engineering disciplines a
chance to explore the practical world which could be their prospect
career.
Amongst the student body of WIE-NEDUET were Wahaba Hussain
(Chairperson), Ayesha Shoaib (Vice Chair), Kanwal Nafees
(Treasurer), Umer Mumtaz (Media and Publication Head) and
Saha Nafees (Documentation Coordinator). The trip included the
survey of assortment of departments of PTV like Master Control
Room (MCR), Video Transmission Room (VTR), Transmitter
Room, Satellite and MCP Room, Design Section, Camera Department, Studio Engineering Department, Creative Depart-
ment and Presentation Department. Here the representatives also observed the hotlines which were used for the direct con-
tact from the studios to the director sitting in the panel. Additionally, the representatives were also led to examine various
machines that included linear editing machine, non-linear editing machine, beta VCR, XD camp VCR and Computer Graphic
and Operational Machine. The encouraging staff also pushed the students to operate some of the machinery on their own
which gave a boost to the female members of the committee.
With this venture to the
studios and offices of PTV,
IEEE-Women in Engineer-
ing NED UET optimistically
expected to reach out to
the community and to moti-
vate women to embark
upon engineering profes-
sions and envision scien-
tific and technical studies.
The dedicated members of
the student body of WIE-
NEDUET will carry the
work of their predecessors
and contemporaries to help
women develop skills, and
self confidence and to be
able to compete with the
rest of the world in all
walks of life.
The Chairperson and Treasurers gave inter-
views to the National Television. The Chairper-
son verified her stance and mission by stating,
“As an engineer in making and a part of the
IEEE-WIE community, I deem to promote the
status of women in all spheres of life.” Kanwal
Nafees, the treasurer, emphasized the impor-
tance of engineering by saying, “It’s not about
math or getting your hands dirty- It’s about ex-
periments from which we learn.”
WIE NED Team at PTV Station Karachi
Report by
Wahaba Hussain
Chair WIE NED
On March 8, 2012 WIE NFC-IEFR student branch
organized a grand event in order to pay tribute to
the great women in Pakistan. The main motive was
actually to show how strong a Woman can be and
how she can prove her existence in this society so
that’s why, our theme was “MAI HUN MAI BHE
HUN”. A panel discussion was held where the pan-
elists were Ms. Saleha Saeed Deputy Health Sec-
retary Punjab, Naveeda Zia President Sarsabz
Foundation and Humaira Ejaz RJ FM-90. The
panel discussion was conducted by Saira Anjum,
Secretary WIE NFC-IE&FR.
After this, a few activities were conducted including
a video Competition, Photo Essay Competition, Tech Quiz Competition. A short skit was also presented along with a
few inspirational videos.
The WIE team gave special tribute to Ms. Saleha Saeed
who had recently achieved 3rd position in CSS. Saleha,
speaking to the audience, mentioned her achievements
and the hard work that has been paying her off. Young fe-
male students were impressed by her and her presence
motivated our students to work hard and never quit just
because they are women. Humaira Ejaz who is serving as
RJ FM-90 shared her experiences with the young female
engi-
neers.
Humaira
conducts the show “5 Baje Band Baje” on FM-90. At the closing of
this event the Mentor of the WIE Committee, Ms. Neelam was in-
vited on stage to address the audience. She mentioned the hard
work of her whole team in her speech and congratulated them on
the success of this event. Mementos were presented to the panel-
ists and the prizes and the participation certificates were given to all
the winners and the participants.
Women`s Day Celebration – IEEE WIE NFC-IEFR
“Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the
strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.”
Attendees listening to Humaira Ejaz
Asma Adeel presenting memento to Saleha Saeed
WIE Team with the guests Report by
Rabail Raza
SSR Lahore Section
Yasmeen Zafar, the Mar-
keting Chairperson also
spoke in the motivation
session and said that
women are responsible to
maintain the generation.
They need independence
to build their own identity.
The families should sup-
port women entrepre-
neurs.
Dr. Rubina Ghani said
that women are effective
leaders. They must know
their own strength that
what they can do and
want to do? They must
create their vision and be
optimistic.
There is no requirement
to become hopeless. They
must learn from failure
and take initiative to be-
come an excellent com-
municator.
The first ever WIE Women Entrepreneurship Conference’12 in Pakistan was held on Sat-
urday, May 26, 2012, at UIT, Karachi, by the outgoing final year students of the Usman
Institute of technology in collaboration with Engineering & Industrial Review (EIR), a large
number of participants attended the event which showed it to be one of the most suc-
cessful event held during recent days, especially to its relevancy.
The conference began with the recitation of Holy Quran. Speakers at the sessions were
Rohana Iqbal, Sadia Naz, Sumrah Ahmed, Dr. Rubina Ghani, Rubina Iqbal, Lubna Na-
mazi, Kashif Qureshi, Fahim Ahmed, Dr. Salima Ahmed, Rabia Khalid and Dr. Shireen
Khanzada. Aisha Ambreen Ansari, Chairperson IEEE WIE UIT welcomed the audience
and told them that WIE at UIT was established to inspire, promote and empower women
entrepreneurs and we are working for their rights to settle their lives. She also highlighted
that women empowerment has been increasing rapidly day by day throughout the world
and we are also striving at our best to engage the women to start their own business. In
her address, she thanked the sponsors of the event namely Indus Cables, Pioneer Ca-
bles, Jubilee Corporation, Tariq Automation, Libra Engineering, Bright Sky Valves, Engi-
neering & Industrial Review, Agri Auto Industries and Karimi Electromech Systems. After
this, Branch Counselor IEEE UIT Engr Parkash Lohana, Director UIT Waseem Akhtar,
Chairman Executive Board of UIT Dr. Manzoor Ahmed addressed the audience and ap-
preciate the efforts of WIE for making this conference a success.
The awareness session was started by a social personality Dr. Anila Malik. She teaches
in the department of Psychology in Karachi University. She told that we can’t ignore the
importance of women. She gives the examples of various famous social workers. She
reiterated that we have traditional mind set and we have to change it by our policies.
WIE Women Entrepreneurship Conference’12
UIT Karachi
Along with the other speakers,
Ms. Rabia Khalid, Chairperson
IEEE Pakistan WIE Forum spoke
about “Women’s ways of lead-
ership.” By giving the examples
of Marissa Mayer, Sheryl
Sandberg, Oprah Winfrey, she
explained the audience about
how females are different from
their male coworkers as a team
member and as a leader. She
highlighted the different quali-
ties of the females which make
them effective and successful
leaders.
The women are restricted to remain at home so there is a requirement to
empower women. Comprehensive steps are required to uplift the women
entrepreneurs in Pakistan. Training, support and micro-finance loan
should be provided to raise women status so that they can make a start
for their business, like textile design unit or cottage industries.
Dr. Keshwar Zehra an activists and MNA of Muttahida Qaumi Movement
was the Chief Guest of the inaugural session. She is working in SIUT
Hospital and busy in training the new generation. In her speech she told
that this is a male dominated society but God has gifted women the ability
to create. If women learn time management then she can be able to do
beyond horizon. She told that strength and time management are the two
basic key of success for women. Women must share knowledge and wis-
dom to each others.
Begum Salma Ahmed, Vice President of The Federation of Pakistan
Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FPCCI), and a well known industrial-
ist of the time when women were not given any importance in business
stood side by side with the men and proved her ability, was the chief
guest at the closing session of the event. She heads the office of Pakistan
Association of Women Entrepreneur. She said in her concluding session
speech that decision making; self-confidence is actually the most meas-
ure for empowerment.
She further said that if you become failure then don’t be disappointed.
Women must have the knowledge of laws to empower herself. Society
must also work for women to freed women from all sorts of problems.
At the end shield was presented to the speakers and certificates were
also given out to the WIE organizing team and in her concluding remarks,
Syeda Hafsa Asif, Vice Chair-Person-IEEE WIE UIT thanked all her team
members, participants, collaborator and sponsors for making this event a
great success.
Report by
Maria Mumtaz Rana
Secretary WIE UIT
A total of 14 teams partici-
pated in the event with 3
members each. Contestants
included Engineers-to-be,
some new-bees and others
graduation right around the
corner. A panel of three re-
spectable judges, from vary-
ing fields came to decide
the winner. The points were
given on five criteria, inno-
vations, neatness of work,
aesthetics of the work, dura-
bility of the design and how
pragmatic was the design.
Judges questioned each
team on their plan of execu-
tion and how they had en-
tertained all facets of com-
petition.
WIE-IEEE PNEC organized its first Scrap to Gadget, coined as 180 Degrees, on
18th May 2012. The basic objective was to reproduce a given object with avail-
able materials. While some participants came to challenge their creative skills,
others came for the
sake of 3D Aven-
gers ticket on stake.
Each team was
given a picture of a
tractor and the chal-
lenge was to build a
3D model of the
tractor. Available
material included
paper, cardboard,
straw, paper cups,
glue and other ob-
jects merely for dis-
traction! The show started at 12 o clock and the timer was set for 45 minutes.
There was whole lot of excitement and commotion as participants rushed
passed each other to scavenge the required materials.
As the timer struck 0, many were satisfied with their outcome. The scores had to
be totaled and check multiple times as the winning margin was so narrow. It was
Mr. Cheema Rana and his teammates who were declared winners at the end.
Not everyone got to see Avengers 3D but all those who participated had an
amazing time!
Scrap to Gadget — WIE PNEC
The competition proceeding with the participants working on their models
Finals touch being given to their model by the participants
The winning tractor!
Report by
Rehma Javed
Secretary IEEE PNEC
Colors are the charm and perfection of life. Imagine a world without
colors and try to compare it with the real one. No comparison allows a
colorless world to look better. Drawing the objects and the symbols is
one of the most basic and attractive languages in communication his-
tory. Painting, drawing, sketching and use of colors have the ability to
represent every object, idea either physical or just imaginable. Here,
IEEE UET branch presented an event named COLOR THE IDEA to
show the beauty of colors, imagination and artistic power of students
at Brainiac 2011.Brainiac was launched at the 5th International Confer-
ence on Open Source Systems and Technologies (ICOSST-2011).
Color the idea was a creative as well as a fun activity. Every student
was given the necessary accessories required to make what they
were asked to.
Then an idea “THE LIFE YOU HAVE AND THE LIFE YOU WANT”
was announced and students were asked to represent it through their
drawing skills. 100 minutes were selected as time limit. Students gave their best to
achieve what they were asked to. An encouraging piece of work by each art-lover was
collected at the end and a team of judges consisting of three professors marked the art
work on the basis of their painting skills and perception of idea. The event ended up with
a great success which includes the enthusiasm of students, their interest, enjoyment and
a well conducting behavior
of participants towards
management. The partici-
pant who outshined all oth-
ers was awarded with win-
ning prize money of Rs
5000 and all others were
awarded with certificates to
appreciate their great work
and encourage them to-
wards such activities.
IEEE & WIE UET also or-
ganized the “Fight to Con-
vince” seminar there at
Brainiac. It was one of the hugely appreciated events of Brainiac 2011. This was, un-
doubtedly, the right place for the people with hunger to express their ideas and opinions
to come and ‘fight to convince’ the others. Each team had to consisted of two members.
The winning team was to be rewarded with Rs. 8000 as the prize money and the runner
up with Rs. 5000. The excitement could be seen among the participants before the event
started. The participants were given a particular topic to argue about. The format of the
competition was for one team to present their viewpoint first in given time and then rest
of the teams were given chance to express their opinions.
Afterwards, the teams were free to object others and enforce their own opinion. The
competition lasted for two and half hours and in the end, only one team came up with
that convincing power that left no resistive option for the others. The winner and runner
up were announced and rewarded at the closing ceremony of the Brainiac 2011.
Brainiac – IEEE WIE UET Lahore
For the closing ceremony
of Brainiac 2011 we were
honored by the presence
of some esteemed per-
sonalities. Dr. Aun Abbas,
CEO, National ICT R&D
Fund, Dr. Tanveer-Ul-Haq,
CEO, of Witribe and CEO
of Techlogix are among
the guests that Brainiac
closing ceremony fortu-
nate to have. The success
of Brainiac is self- evident
with the list of elite guests
that it had during its clos-
ing ceremony. In their
closing remarks, all the
guests put major empha-
sis on the importance of
R&D and also mentioned
the role of UET in bringing
forth the personals
equipped with strong
technical armory and in-
novative skills. Ceremony
was then clinched on a
note that such events and
conferences should regu-
larly be held for the better-
ment of R&D and IT sector
in Pakistan.
The Discussion Round of Fight to Convince
Contestants at Color the Idea
Report by
Bushra Nayab
Chair WIE UET
The Chief Guest of the event was
HOD EE department Mr. Jehan-
zeb Ahmed. We were honored by
the presence of the General Sec-
retary of PWF; Ms Maryam
Saeed, MS in Finance from uni-
versity of Auckland; Mr. Ameer
Hassan as guest speaker for CV
writing workshop, Miss. Ishba
Shehzad from FAST and Ms
Sumbal from NUST.
At the workshop session the re-
cently established WIE Affinity
Group of Bahria University, Is-
lamabad also gave an introduc-
tory session on becoming the
first university from Islamabad
section to become the first one
with an active WIE branch.
CV Writing Workshop & Discover WIE Session Bahria University Islamabad
Report by
Rumshaa Yunus
Chair WIE BUI
Representing yourself in the job market is the toughest yet the key factor for
getting a job. Most of the students have no idea about what to put on the
resume let alone how to make a CV. Realizing the importance of educating
the students on the topic, IEEE WIE Bahria University Islamabad conducted
a CV Writing workshop on Friday, March 16, 2012. Mr. Ameer Hassan was
the speaker for the workshop. More than 60 students benefited from the
workshop. The session was a great addition to the students’ knowledge. It
was a fun and interactive session with small on the spot exercises.
The event started with WIE introductory session. Students were informed
about the benefits of IEEE WIE. All the necessary and possible questions
were tackled effectively in the presentation by WIE chairperson Miss. Rum-
shaa Yunus. The main agenda of the session also declared as WIE BUI’s
aim was that “Progess is proportional to contribution and contribution is in-
complete without women’s share in it.” After the presenta-
tion Miss. Maryam was invited to share her experience with
the students and to enlighten them about Pakistan WIE Fo-
rum.
The event ending was marked by presenting shields to
Miss. Maryam and Mr. Ameer by the branch counselor Mr.
Haroon Rasheed. The event had an awesome feedback by
the guests. With this WIE BUI has broken the ice to a sea
of event that would soon be revealed by this passing year.
Maryam Saeed, Ishba Shehzad, Ameer Hassan, Sumbal
The WIE Committee members
The Pakistan Mission to Pro-
gress Project has been di-
vided into two major
phases. This was its phase
one where we visited differ-
ent schools and colleges
with the aim to create aware-
ness among the young fe-
males regarding the field of
engineering. Through these
efforts of the Pakistan Mis-
sion to Progress Project
team, we envision a brighter
and better tomorrow where
the young female students
are well aware of their role
in their field of engineering
and how they can bring
about a change in the world
being an engineer.
Pakistan Mission to Progress - Awareness session
Khatoon-e-Pakistan School, Karachi
IEEE-WIE-UIT conducted an awareness session of "WIE Pakistan Mission to Pro-
gress" project of IEEE Pakistan Women in Engineering Forum at KHATOON-E-
PAKISTAN Government Girls School Karachi. The theme of this session was:
"Rights of the Child
and Right to Educa-
tion." The session
was carried out by
Aisha Ambreen An-
sari Chair WIE UIT,
Hafsa Asif Vice Chair
and Maria Rana Gen-
eral Secretary. They
started off with an
introduction about
IEEE, IEEE-WIE, and
Pakistan WIE Forum
given by Aisha Ambreen with the aim to increase awareness regarding the field of
engineering among the younger generations. They had interactive session with
the students of matriculation and above and brief them about the vast field of en-
gineering. Importance of female engineers in the future was also a topic of long
debate.
Our main agenda was to teach and educate students about the basic
rights of the children and educational rights. We had chose Khatoon-e-
Pakistan Gov. Girls School as the students of the school were not well
aware of science and technology and the fields of engineering. Hafsa Asif
enlightened them about courses of engineering offered in Pakistan and
how can they get enrolled for them. The students showed great interest in
the field of solar energy. Maria Rana told them about the live projects go-
ing on in Pakistan regarding solar energy. The three speakers told the
young students about their ongoing final year projects to motivate the lis-
teners and inspire them.
WIE Members of UIT among the students
Report by
Aisha Ambreen
Chairperson WIE UIT
The WIE Team of UIT Karachi
One of the many reasons
one should prefer WIE over
any other women's society
which claims to hold the
same code as WIE would be
that WIE not only has a fully
established and organized
hierarchy but also has fully
defined and planned objec-
tives. In addition to this WIE
is an international chapter
that has its roots in many
countries all around the
world promising maximum
exposure resultantly provid-
ing solutions to problems
new and old.
WIE in GIKI ~ Why in GIKI?
Report by
Ahsan Abdullah
Chair IEEE GIKI
At Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute, Topi, it has been observed that the participation
of female students is very less as compared to the male students in technical
events dealing with technical modules such as Robo Races (including both line
tracking and walk hugging), Robo Wars and Race to Innovation. GIKI Electronix
Olympiad was the largest of all national events hosted by IEEE GIKI Chapter till
date but unfortunately only 20 females participated in the Olympiad out of the
total 150 participants.
Awkwardly, the girl: boy ratio is surprisingly low in any technical events. Bearing
this in mind the most straight forward and easy way to increase the interest of
female students and consequently their participation in such technical events is
to widen the scope of these events to include modules such as workshops and
seminars dealing with the limitations that the females face, when it comes to
their opting for all engineering related occupations so as to provide a proper plat-
form for female representation in the field of engineering.
In order to address these issues, initiative is being taken by IEEE. Although the
initiative still being in its initial stages lacks momentum but steps are being taken
even as I write this report. IEEE GIKI chapter is hosting this year's Pakistan Stu-
dent Congress on from September 7 to 9, 2012 and we plan to use this forum to
take our initiative to the next level. At the Pakistan Student Congress, the IEEE
Pakistan WIE Forum is collaborating with IEEE GIKI and organizing the WIE
Congress. We do hope that this congress will not only be a success when it
comes to introducing WIE to the GIKI students but also in explaining the benefits
and factors that make WIE unique to the fullest extent.
Female students of GIKI participating in various events
WIE LAHORE SECTION AFFINITY GROUP
INAUGURAL CEREMONY AT ESPIRIT DE IEEE
Report by
Adia Shaukat
Secretary WIE Lahore Section
IEEE Lahore Section is one of the oldest Section in Region 10 with foundation back in 1968. Since then IEEE Lahore
section has been performing very well and growing rapidly. IEEE Lahore Section is currently led by visionary Leadership
of Dr. Khaver Zia with other executive members. WIE Affinity Groups in the Lahore Section have been performing very
actively in over the past few years. Ms. Mehvish Zahoor, along with a few otherwise graduate, petitioned for the formation
of WIE Affinity Group Lahore Section and the first executive committee was
formed.
The motivation behind the formation of IEEE WIE Lahore Section Affinity
Group was to pro-
vide a platform to
all student group
branches to coor-
dinate and work
together and ar-
range collaborative
events for better-
ment of WIE. The
team is also ambi-
tious to work for
the introduction of new Affinity Groups in Lahore Section Student Branches.
Formal inauguration of IEEE Lahore WIE Chapter was done on 28 April, 2012
on joint event named Espirite De IEEE with IEEE Lahore GOLD Affinity Group
at University of South Asia. The event was attended by executive committee
members of various Student Branches of Lahore Section. Ms. Ammara Ghani,
Executive Members
IEEE Pakistan WIE Fo-
rum was the chief guest.
At the occasion, Ms.
Mehvish Zahoor pre-
sented about the bene-
fits of IEEE & WIE. After
the presentation Dr.
Khaver Zia, Chair IEEE Lahore Section took oath from first Execu-
tive Committee of IEEE WIE Lahore. Oath ended with prayers for
future activities of IEEE WIE Lahore Chapter. At the end of the ses-
sion a cake cutting ceremony was also held.
The first executive committee
members of the WIE Lahore Sec-
tion Affinity Group are:
Mehvish Zahoor - Chairperson
Anum Javed – Vice Chair
Adila Shauket - General Secretary
Jowaria Sohail – Treasurer
Student Rep - Hafsa Muqadas
Committee members:
Nosheen Irshad
Asma Sajid
Ayesha Fayyaz
Saher Naqi
Mehvish Zahoor — addressing the audience
The Oath taking Ceremony
The Cake Cutting
The organizing committee of WIE NEDUET
Report by
Ahsan Saeed
Chairman IEEE NEDUET
IEEE-Bringing Engineering to life! - Membership
drive by IEEE and WIE NEDUET
The membership drive for IEEE and IEEE-WIE was held by the student body of NEDUET, on 7th March, 2012. The
aim of the event was to inspire and encourage, specially, the female students to be a part of IEEE-WIE community for
empowerment of their engineering potential over the globe.
The event started off with an opening recitation and then the sanctified Na-
tional Anthem. IEEE host threw a welcome address to the attendees with a
brief introduction of IEEE and IEEE-WIE. Rabia Khalid, Chairperson IEEE
Pakistan WIE Forum, spoke about the benefits of IEEE and IEEE-WIE
membership and, being a female IEEE member, encouraged the female
students to join IEEE-WIE.
Adeel Razi, then spoke some words about IEEE and IEEE-WIE community.
Then the Chairman Electronic Department, NEDUET, addressed the ses-
sion and gave the idea of IEEE and WIE, and appreciated the engagement
of students with IEEE and WIE community.
The session attendees were also made involved in small activities to keep
their interest towered. IEEE-WIE promotional stuff was given as a gift to the
students who took part in the activities. Moreover, the students were also
made to fill up the forms to be a part of WIE student body of NEDUET.
At the end of the event, Wahaba Hussain, the IEEE-WIE Chair NEDUET,
addressed the session and gave the motto of IEEE-WIE. Next to her, Ah-
san Saeed, IEEE Chair NEDUET, spoke to the session welcoming the
students to IEEE and IEEE-WIE community.
Rabia Khalid speaking at the occasion
Rabia Khalid, Chairperson
Pakistan WIE Forum, also
explained why is it impor-
tant to volunteer and to
maintain balance between
your grades and co-
curricular activities. She
also told the students about
various volunteering oppor-
tunities in Global Integrated
Network of IEEE, Pakistan
Women In Engineering Fo-
rum and Graduates Of Last
Decade Affinity Group.
IEEE PNEC Student Branch held its Membership Drive on 20th April 2012. IEEE PNEC has always made an effort to
blend in fun and technology well. This drive was conducted to let
the students know of the manifested benefit of joining IEEE and to
encourage them to be a part of this society. The one and a half
hour session consisted of interactive sessions from Hassaan
Idrees – the GINI Representative of Region 10, Ms. Rabia Khalid –
Pakistan WIE Forum Chairperson and Student Representative for
South Asia Gold Committee, IEEE PNEC and Mr. Onib Nasir –
Chairperson, IEEE PNEC.
Mr.Onib Nasir, gave the students a detailed description about the
working of IEEE PNEC. He demonstrated the various events held
under its banner. His motto was that IEEE PNEC is a well-blended
mixture of fun and technology, and the only society of PNEC which tends to do so.
The last speaker, Ms. Rabia Khalid, who has served as the Vice Chair WIE PNEC
for the year 2010-2011, Chairperson IEEE for year 2011-2012, and is now the cur-
rent Chairperson of Pakistan WIE Forum, gave a comprehensive review of Women
In Engineering. Being the WIE PNEC Vice Chair herself for the year 2010, she had
ample opportunities to portray her skills through this forum. WIE PNEC follows the
universal motto of encouraging women towards science and technology. Students,
especially girls were encouraged to be a part of this extensive network. Rabia fur-
ther elaborated the various other opportunities available to the girls by becoming a
part of WIE and how to promote women in engineering in this male dominated soci-
ety. Having been a part of WIE for the previous 3 years, she shared her success
story and recounted her experiences and the benefits that WIE has provided to her.
The session ended with an interactive game for the audience – the Pictionary. The
audience was divided into two teams. One member from each team was given a
word which he had to explain by a drawing. The session was fun and enjoyable. This drive was indeed an effort to cre-
ate a better and clear vision of IEEE among the students and to encourage them to be a part of this global organization.
Report by
Iqra Sajid
Vice Chair WIE PNEC
Membership Drive – WIE IEEE PNEC Student Branch
The audience engaged in the session and discovering IEEE
Rabia Khalid addressing the audience at the WIE IEEE PNEC Membership
Drive and recounting her experiences
Hassaan Idrees demonstrated the true benefit of joining
IEEE to be an integral part of a family of 400,000+ mem-
bers. His presentation consisted of ample benefits which
included access to one of the world’s colossal libraries
having more than 2.5 million IEEE documents, having
one’s own email alias, having an opportunity to interact
with people of one’s interest from all around the globe.
The list goes on.
Upcoming at IEEE UCET Student Branch
IEEE WIE UCET Student Branch brings you League of ordinary Youth to be Ex-traordinary. It will be a specialized de-signed program, focused on:
Turning to the center: Know yourself
Before the turn: Vision & goal-setting
Turning paradigms: Creativity & in-novation
Need of Entrepreneurship
This will be a 3 days personal develop-ment program where national and inter-national trainers would train you for the above mentioned domains. For more details, please visit:
https://www.facebook.com/IEEE.UCET.IUB
Women In Engineering Promotional Seminar
IEEE CIIT Student Branch Lahore
Report by
Muhammad Abdullah
Chair IEEE-CIIT, Lahore
A Women In Engineering promotional seminar was conducted to high-
light the importance of joining WIE and the benefits that one may avail
while being a member of IEEE & WIE. Dr. Sobia Baig, the Branch
Counselor, IEEE CIIT delivered a lecture on it and told them how
women of Pakistan can play a vital role in the development of Pakistan.
IEEE CIIT Lahore also started a campaign to urge students to Join
IEEE and WIE Affinity Group. A membership drive was held, in Febru-
ary 2012, for the purpose to attract more and more students towards
this global community. To carry on this cause, IEEE CIIT also plans to
conduct another session of the WIE Promotional Seminar in the Fall
semester this year for the new fresher females students. This second
episode of the WIE Promotional Seminar will be organized with the aim
to urge young female engineering students to join WIE Affinity Group.
Representatives from IEEE WIE Pakistan, Ms Mehvish Zahoor, Chair-
person WIE Lahore Section and IEEE Lahore SSR Rabail Raza will be
invited to address girls of CIIT Lahore.
CONTRIBUTE TO THE WOMEN IN ENGINEERING MAGAZINE!!
A golden opportunity for the female writers to show their talent is through the upcoming IEEE WIE newsletter. Submissions are being accepted from world over for invaluable contributions of writers. Those who have the apt for molding words into wonders should find this as a wonderful opportunity to step ahead and make a change for further submission details visit:
http://www.ieee.org/membership_services/membership/women/publications/magazine.html
Call for IEEE Women in Engineering Videos In 2012
The IEEE Life Members Fund of the IEEE Foundation funded the creation of an IEEE Women in Engi-
neering video. The video will serve as a public service to highlight modern day engineering role mod-
els as well as help establish IEEE WIE’s presence as experts in the best practices for promoting
women in engineering. The video will highlight engineers doing their “work” and provide statements to
enhance the public’s understanding of the contributions of women technical professionals. In addition,
WIE would like to capture video footage of IEEE Women in Engineering Affinity Groups and Student
Branch Affinity Groups conducting activities. The submission deadline is 31 August 2012.
Pakistan Student/GOLD/WIE Congress 2012 Pakistan Student/GOLD/WIE Congress is an event at national magnitude, that focuses to give Pakistan IEEE, a paraphernalia to widen their network as well an excellent opportunity to the young minds to sit and brainstorm together to bring out something new, innovative
and pragmatic.
The WIE Congress will be a part of the Pakistan Students Congress this year. The Pakistan WIE Forum in Collaboration with the South Asia GOLD WIE Committee brings you a lot of exciting stuff to look forward to for this year’s PSC. Join us as a WIE delegate at the Con-gress from 7th to 9th September 2012 at GIK Institute of Engineering Sciences and Tech-
nology, Topi, District Swabi, Pakistan.
For More Details visit: website: www.gikieee.wordpress.com/psc
IEEE Women In Engineering Awards Pakistan 2012
All of our volunteers work with their utmost zeal and dedication with the aim of promoting engi-neering amongst women in Pakistan. IEEE Pakistan WIE Forum has always been blessed with
outstanding volunteers who have worked tremendously with keen devotion and allegiance.
In order to recognize their efforts, Pakistan WIE Forum has taken the initiative of recognize all their hard work and commitment. Pakistan WIE Forum would be giving out special awards and certificates of recognition. These awards would be announced at the Pakistan Student/ GOLD/
WIE Congress ’12.
The categories for the awards are:
Best WIE Affinity Group Pakistan
Best WIE Chairperson
Most Active WIE Volunteer
The nomination forms can be downloaded from http://sites.ieee.org/pakistan-wie-forum/wie-
awards/
Fill them and submit to ieeewie.pk@gmail.com no longer than August 20, 2012.
Mehwish Iqbal - Designer
Rabia Khalid - Editor
Onib Nasir - Reviewer